The next morning, Sebastian woke up alone in bed, Rylee's side cold to the touch. He looked over at the clock and saw it was 7:30.

"Ry?" Sebastian questioned into the empty air, still half asleep, hair sticking every which way.

The answer he received was silence. He willed himself not to panic, he just woke up, she was probably around somewhere.

He got up and shuffled to the bathroom, grabbing a much needed shower. He continued on with his usual morning routine and eventually ended up back in the bedroom as he usually did, putting on gym shorts, and ruffling a towel through his short wet hair. He made his way to the loft landing and could hear Rylee quietly singing to some unheard music in the kitchen below.

As he trotted down the stairs, he took in the sight of Rylee standing in the kitchen, working over the stove. She was still dressed in just her large t-shirt from the night before, but God how'd she make a t-shirt look so fucking good? Her long brown hair down in flowing waves over her shoulders.

She continued singing lightly, which he could now hear much more clearly as the song "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs

And what's wrong with that?

She had a spatula in one hand and her other on the handle of a pan, that looked to contain a pancake. She scraped up the pancake and flipped it over, sizzling as the new side cooked.

I'd like to know

'Cause here I go again

I love you, I love you

I love you, I love you

He pulled out the stool by the kitchen bar behind her and simply watched her. How did I get so lucky. She swayed her hips lightly to the unheard beat, scooping up the pancake from the pan and placing it on the plate beside her, stacked three high.

I can't explain the feeling's plain to me; can't you see?

Ah, she gave me more, she gave it all to me now can't you see?

She grabbed the bowl with her pancake mix and poured on another, sizzling immediately as it hit the already hot pan.

What's wrong with that?

I need to know

'Cause here I go agai-

Sebastian stood up from his chair and walked over to Rylee wrapping his arms around her waist and putting his chin on her shoulder. Rylee jumped with a small squeak, immediately throwing her hands up to cover her face as she started to laugh at how stupid she felt.

Sebastian was now close enough to hear the music coming from her AirPods and started singing along.

I love you, I love you

He stood up straighter now, and pulled the spatula in her hand closer to his face, singing into it like a microphone enthusiastically, making Rylee laugh heartily.

Love doesn't come in a minute

Sometimes it doesn't come at all

I only know that when I'm in it

It isn't silly, love isn't silly, love isn't silly at all

He carried out the last "all" and then said "Oh shit. Whoops." As he quickly leaned around Rylee, holding on to her shoulder with his other hand, to flip the pancake that he may have just been responsible for burning.

"I call dibs on that one." He said kissing the open spot showing on her neck. And wrapping his hands back around her waist.

"You're down here earlier than anticipated." Rylee said as she pulled the last pancake off of the pan and placed it on the other plate stacked there, also three high.

Sebastian hummed questioningly in her ear, wondering what she meant.

"Turn around." She commanded, spinning her finger in a circular motion.

He did as he was told and faced the other direction as he heard a drawer open and close. He heard a few clicks as well as the light tap of her feet changing position on the floor.

He felt a tap on his shoulder which he took as his cue to turn around. When he did, he still saw Rylee standing there, but now she was holding a plate of pancakes, with the burnt one on top, but atop the burnt pancake was a single lit candle, flickering brightly.

"Happy birthday, baby," Rylee said, smiling gently with the plate in front of her.

Sebastian smiled his lopsided grin, and paused for a moment, making a show of making a wish. He then leaned over and blew out the candle, leaning closer then to slowly kiss Rylee, pouring all of his love into it. She kissed him back fully in return. They stayed like that for a few moments before separating.

"Thank you, Ry, this is amazing." Sebastian said as he took the plate from her hands as well as her other plate and placed them in front of the bar seats for them. She slid over the syrup and forks for them as she made her way around to her seat.

"Coffee?" Sebastian asked, already on his way over to the machine.

"Yes, please." Rylee answered quickly.

Sebastian grabbed Rylee's favorite mug with his face plastered all over it and another mug with a Marvel logo, filling both, and adding way too much creamer to hers and adding oat milk to his. He walked them over to their seats and slid Rylee hers.

"So. Do you feel old yet?"

Sebastian looked her over and laughed, "you're the one that snap crackle pops when you get up in the morning. I think you need to ask yourself that question."

"Listen, gymnastics screwed me up as a kid, okay?" Rylee laughed back, slapping his shoulder playfully.

"Ah, so that's why you're so flexible then," Sebastian smirked into his coffee cup, looking at her through the side of his eye.

"Sebastian!" Rylee laughed harder, giving his shoulder another smack.

——————————

Somehow, it was already 9:00 and Sebastian had to leave for set, departing with a long kiss. As soon as Sebastian was out the door, Rylee texted Alexa.

🌻

The eagle has left the nest 🎂

💞

Lmao let's goooo!

Rylee and Alexa both met at the subway station, both carrying boxes full of supplies and rode to Ruby's together, discussing their plan for the day. Chris had sent them the confirmed list of exactly 40 total people coming tonight.

They walked into Ruby's around 10:00 and said hi to Johnny, walking back to the back room. They set down their boxes and opened them, laying out their supplies. They had a lot of the typical decor, streamers, balloons, table covers, and banners. They stuck with a theme of reds and blacks, since those were Sebastian's favorite colors.

Johnny brought them over a helium tank and they got to work setting up.

By the time they felt like they were finished it was close to 1:00. They left their extra supplies there and left Ruby's to grab the rest of what they needed today. They walked a few blocks away to the small convenience store and bought various items like pretzels and chips along with some basic 2 liters of different drinks. They figured most people would just order drinks from the bar, but wanted it just in case. Next they walked across the street to Mary's Bakery and Sweets to pick up the cake they had ordered.

They made their way back to Ruby's with their purchases and were glad they wore older clothes because they were both sweating from the August heat by the time they got back. Johnny brought them a cooler full of ice for their drinks and small snack baskets for their chips.

Rylee looked at her phone and found a missed call and a voicemail from Sebastian. She felt awful for missing them, but they've been so distracted on their mission today she never looked at her phone.

She clicked on the voicemail and played his message:

"Hey babe! Just wanted to call and say hi. I'm assuming your taking a nap and I'm major jealous. Anyway, Chris suggested hanging out at Ruby's tonight..and I know you and Alexa have off today and you probably don't want to be at work on your day off but I thought it would be fun. Let me know if you wanna go. I think Alexa may have already said yes, but you'll have to ask her.

Anyway, I've gotta go. But I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye Ryles."

Rylee giggled at how sly Chris was with that move. She looked up at Alexa and said "Hey, Sebastian wants to see if we all wanna hang out at Ruby's tonight. Are you free?" She laughed out loud.

"Hmm. I think I can arrange that." Alexa laughed back, "So are we done here?" Alexa added, looking around the room.

"Yep, I think so!" Rylee rocked up on her toes in excitement.

The girls left together and rode the subway back to Rylee and Sebastian's apartment to kill a few more hours before they needed to be back to meet Jill's sister.

Before they knew it, it was 6:00. Rylee and Alexa were finishing getting ready and were about to head out the door. Rylee was wearing a beautiful red a-line dress, that accentuated all of her features tenfold, especially her breasts, showing the perfect amount of cleavage in the v cut of her neckline. Alexa wore a blue floral dress that flaunted all of her features perfectly as well.

They left the apartment and rode the subway back to Ruby's, excitement riling up inside them. They still couldn't believe they had pulled this off.